Portend
by msjgatsby
Summary: Those who don't learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.


Author's Notes: Skipping the details of a great night out (mostly because I don't remember them), let us just say I was quite hungover this morning. On the bright side, this meant I only had the energy to lay around and listen to season 1 of Graceland (So much better than season 2) to try to hear the character's voices again and I got a little bit of new inspiration to write, so I'm working on it and I hope to have a breakthrough with White Flag and get it finished before Season 3 starts. Until then, here's a quick outtake from Season 1.

* * *

"Need any help?" Paige knocks on the door frame to Lauren's room. The blonde doesn't turn around, but Paige can see her body stiffen.

"I don't need anymore _help_ from _you_." Lauren replies in a cold voice.

"It was the right thing to do. You almost burned Graceland. It wasn't personal." Paige says rationally.

She means it too. She likes Lauren well enough as a person, but as an agent she was compromised. Paige doesn't regret turning the transmitter over to the DEA or reporting it to her advisor at the DEA.

"It is personal to me!" Lauren turns to spat at her.

"Maybe that's the problem." Paige says in a quiet dangerous tone. "You let it become personal."

Lauren had been screwing things up left and right recently, and it all began right around the time that she started sleeping in Donny's room. Donny had too and it almost got him killed. As far as Paige is concerned, both of them are getting off easy. It could have ended much worse for them both.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot who I was talking to here." Lauren rolls her eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You. Nothing ever gets under your skin. Not even the job. You watch people OD and kill each other or themselves on the job and then you just la-la-la-la-la. You turn work off, like a switch, and skip off to the bars. Where you do the exact same thing. Skip around not caring. Pick up clueless pretty guys. Make a game out of seducing them, and then you just forget about them. You skip around all carefree, but it's only because you feel dead inside, and try to get rid of the emptiness with your incessant bed hopping. One day even that won't be enough."

"My ability to focus and not get overly attached or emotional is what makes me such a good agent." Paige admits Lauren's words hit a little close to home, but she refuses to see it as a bad thing. Silently, she thinks Lauren could benefit from being a little less emotional.

"Oh no. You don't get to judge me, princess." Lauren hears the silent accusation, and aggressively steps closer to Paige. "I refuse to be judged by a ditzy, spoiled little child whose longest relationship was a 2 month long sting operation with a perp you ended up jailing."

Paige thinks that's a little harsh. She's not near as ditzy as she lets everyone believe, and it was a three month sting, but she has a feeling the length of time is really irrelevant. She simply doesn't do relationships, and she's not ashamed to admit it.

"You done?" Paige crosses her arms cooley and asks in a bored tone after Lauren's rant. She realizes this will piss Lauren off more than any argument ever could. Sure enough, the other agent looks so mad, Paige imagines steam coming out of her ears. She slams her suitcase closed.

"One of these day, someone's going to get through a crack in that wall you've built around your heart, and then you'll fall so far down into the mud with the rest of us." Lauren seethes.

"Well it's a shame you won't be around to see that day." Paige says, at this point realizing she's sounding catty, but not caring. Lauren is being quite rude.

"You know what? You're right. I am done here. I am so sick of this life. I'm sick of the lies. I want something real, and Donny is real. He loves me, and this stupid job almost killed him." Lauren says, turning away from Paige. "So in a twisted way I should thank you."

Paige feels a little bit sorry for Lauren, but recognizes it's a good thing Lauren's leaving if this is how she's feeling. For Paige this is not just a stupid job. She is protecting innocent people. She is keeping horrible drugs off the streets that would ruin lives and tear families apart. She is doing good in the world, and to her that is worth more than some stupid boyfriend.

"I never meant to hurt you. Graceland is safe. That's all I care about." It is as close to an apology as Paige will give.

"For now. But one day you may want more." Lauren says knowingly.

"Maybe, but the job will always come first for me."

"You can't have both. Because one day the lies will tear you apart in one way or another. You'll come home after seducing someone for work and he'll smell another man on you. He'll always think you're lying, because you will be. You won't trust him either, because you'll always suspect underneath he's the same as all the monsters you throw in jail."

"And that is why I am happy being alone and sticking to my, what did you call it? Bed hopping." Paige says simply.

"See you're just lying to yourself now." Lauren says harshly. "You know the real reason you're sending me away? You're jealous."

"Jealous of what? The way you almost ended your career? Jealous that you've become so needy you can't let go of some guy even though he's clearly destroying you?" Paige asks sarcastically.

"Jealous that I outgrew this sad experiment we call Graceland, and you're still stuck on the island of misfit toys. You're jealous that I found someone to make me whole, that I found true love, and you're still all alone."

"Oh please. I could have that if I wanted it. I could go bang on that same door you did Lauren, and then bang Levi and call it 'love' but unlike you, I don't need a man to feel whole." Paige rolls her eyes. Lauren's more delusional than Paige thought if she thinks her and Donny are special. Vulnerability leading to two people in bed together is not exactly rare. Lauren's acting like she's the only person on earth to ever fuck a roommate. "I'm not jealous of the mess you made for yourself. I simply was the one who told the truth to the DEA advisory board. Someone around here had to."

"Just get out! This is my last day here, and I'd rather not spend any more of it with you!" Lauren screams.

"Fine by me! Good luck with your new ambitious dream of becoming a common housewife! I have to go back to my boring job of keeping the innocents of the world safe!" Paige says, closing the door to Lauren's room and any hope of salvaging her friendship with Lauren forever.

She turns to storm down the hallway, and nearly runs over Mike.

"Hey. Everything ok? It sounded like you were fighting." The new kid, Mike, is coming out of Donny's room, no Mike's room, and looks concerned for Paige.

"Yeah Lauren and I had a disagreement. Turns out she's not so thrilled about me reporting the transmitter on her car." Paige shrugs.

"That's crazy right?" Mike asked, "Well I think you did the right thing. But that's got to be hard, when it hurts someone you care about. Still it was the right thing to do. I mean she was pretty reckless and you have to protect the house."

Paige smiles at him appreciatively. He just said aloud everything she needed to hear.

"Yeah, whatever. It's all for the best." Paige does what Paige does best, and pushes the unpleasantness aside to change the subject, "Anyways it's over now. Time to move on to more pleasant things… speaking of which, you never told me. How was your night last night rockstar?"

"Pretty good." Mike shrugs noncommittally.

"Ouch. Home after dawn but only pretty good? Let me guess, is she a lights off missionary type who wants to spend more time cuddling than actually having sex? Sorry. I should have known. It's always hard to tell with the button up shirt types. They're either complete prudes or freaks. There doesn't seem to be an in between."

"No! I mean, I didn't sleep with her or anything. We just walked along the beach and talked." Mike corrects her quickly, nervously fiddling with his own button up shirt he's wearing.

"Shame. From the way she was staring, I thought that was a sure thing!" Paige chirped brightening up.

"Well, she gave me her number, but I probably shouldn't call her. Right? What do you think?"

"Do you want to call her?" Paige asks.

"Well… Briggs says dispassion and nonattachment are musts. So what would be the point?" Mike answers.

"He's right. The house has to come first." Paige says, still distracted from her fight with Lauren. She does not _skip, _she walks perfectly normally.

"You know he says there's no room for passion, but I thought when he set up that private meet he was gonna beat the crap out of Kuzminoff."

"Well that's just Briggs. Do he says, not as he does." Paige shrugs.

"Yeah, but why?" Mike presses on.

"I think he thought that black eye Lauren had was from Kuzminoff and Briggs is protective of his housemates, especially us girls. You saw the way he decked that guy at the bar who was bugging Charlie and I."

"Um no, I missed that. All I saw was you, dragging his ass out of the bar." Mike says, then adds with an awestruck tone, "You're kind of terrifying sometimes."

"Thanks. Don't get on my bad side." Paige grins.

"I won't." Mike assures her, before continuing to analyze the Briggs situation."So if that's this case, this is what still bugs me. He went through all that trouble to set it up and then didn't touch Kuzminoff. Why didn't he beat the crap out of him?"

"Something must have convinced him Kuzminoff didn't punch Lauren"

"Well that doesn't make any sense. Who did then? Does Briggs think she punched herself in the face?" Mike says with a wry laugh.

"Let it be a warning sign to you, Levi. This is what happens when feelings get involved." Paige gestures towards Lauren's room with a laugh.

"Oh God, if I ever get like that, do me a favor. Kill me." Mike shakes his head with a grin.

"Deal." Paige laughs.


End file.
